John Kilopacal wrote in USMA 21926; >Pat, > >I see where you are coming from. Britain, and thus its colonies, have, a >longer tradition of having a "standard pound" and thus this 454 g value is >more set in stone. In all other countries where the various "pounds" >existed and varied from locality to locality right up to the time of >metrication, there was never an attachment to a "standard pound" and thus it >was easier to just set the value at 500 g without any worry about what it >would affect. And I'm sure there were few recipes written down or that were >that critical that the incorporation of the old measures into the new metric >ones didn't make much of a difference if they varied somewhat. I'm believe >that even before metrication, any recipe, either oral or written, would have >produced varying results based on where it was used, as the FFU varied so >much across Europe. In this regard metrication made recipes more >standardised. > >John
Tallyrand on 1790 March 9 listed 20 different livres (pounds) used in various cities in France. They ranged from 344.13 g in Corsica to 518.88 g in Rouen. Obviously, these metric values were added much later. -- Joseph B. Reid 17 Glebe Road West Toronto M5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071
